Advertised from 22 September 2026

Role

The Advice and Information Service is a national support service for single-parent families and professionals across Scotland. It provides multi-channel advice on a wide range of topics, ensuring accessibility and inclusivity.

The Advice & Engagement Worker plays a key role in increasing awareness, accessibility and engagement with the OPFS Advice and Information Service.

Working collaboratively with colleagues, partner organisations and professionals across Scotland, the postholder will promote the service, build effective partnerships and improve access to high-quality advice and information for single-parent families.

Working within the OPFS My Life and Me framework, the postholder will provide high quality advice and information through a range of channels, deliver outreach activities, facilitate online practitioner webinars and advice clinics and build the confidence and knowledge of professionals supporting single-parent families. The role will also identify emerging issues affecting families and contribute to service development, policy and campaigning by highlighting trends and barriers experienced by those accessing the service.

The Advice & Information Service is part of OPFS Support for Families Services, providing holistic support to single parents and their children across Scotland. Our work is guided by the six My Life and Me priority areas

• Money
• Health & Wellbeing
• Home
• Work, Education & Training
• Children
• Relationships

Through a person-centred, strengths-based approach, guided by our organisational values of Justice, Equity, Trust, Collaboration and Compassion, we work alongside families to:

• Involve them in shaping the support they receive.
• Strengthen their skills, confidence and resilience.
• Support them to achieve their goals and aspirations.
• Influence positive change in their lives and communities.
• Challenge the barriers and inequalities that impact them.

The Advice & Engagement Worker will contribute to these outcomes by increasing awareness of OPFS services, ensuring families can access the right support at the right time, strengthening partnership working across Scotland and empowering both parents and professionals with the knowledge and confidence to navigate services and improve outcomes for single-parent families.

Role and Responsibilities:

As an Advice Worker at OPFS you will:

• Work to the agreed priorities of the service, providing clear, compassionate advice on key areas including housing, money, parenting, relationships, health & wellbeing and employment/training.
• Help develop and deliver an outreach programme that promotes OPFS's advice services within communities, partner organisations and professional networks.
• Build and maintain positive relationships with statutory, voluntary and community organisations to increase awareness of the service and improve referral pathways.
• Plan and deliver engaging online practitioner webinars on topics relevant to supporting single-parent families.
• Facilitate regular online advice clinics, providing advice, guidance and support to parents across Scotland.
• Promote OPFS services through presentations, networking events, partnership meetings, outreach clinics and any other community engagement opportunities.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues to identify opportunities to improve access to advice for underrepresented or harder-to-reach communities.
• Contribute to and deliver advice over the digital advice channels, ensuring information is accessible and responsive to the needs of single-parent families.
• Signpost single parents and professionals to relevant services and resources.
• Accurately record all interactions, outreach activity and engagement using Salesforce CRM and other agreed systems.
• Participate in monitoring, evaluation and training to support continuous improvement and demonstrate the impact of outreach and promotional activity.
• Maintain confidentiality and uphold safeguarding, data protection and health & safety policies.
• Contribute to team meetings, service development and quality assurance activities.
• Promote equality, diversity and inclusive practice in all aspects of your work.
• Ensure the voices and experiences of single parents inform your advice, outreach activity and contribute to OPFS's policy and advocacy work.
• Demonstrate flexibility, a positive attitude and a commitment to OPFS's core values: Justice, Equity, Trust, Compassion and Collaboration.

The job description is a broad picture of the post at the time of preparation. It is not an exhaustive list of all possible duties, and it is recognised that jobs change and evolve over time.

Personal Specification

We're looking for someone who is passionate about supporting single-parent families and confident engaging with communities, professionals and partner organisations. You'll enjoy building relationships, sharing knowledge and helping improve access to advice services across Scotland.

Essential

• Experience in an advice, support, community engagement or customer-facing role.
• Experience of delivering presentations, workshops, training sessions or group information sessions, either online or in person.
• Interest in and an awareness of topics including housing, benefits, parenting, wellbeing and employment.
• Understanding of the challenges single parents face, or a strong desire to learn and put this into practice.
• Some knowledge and understanding of both UK and Scottish benefits systems.
• Demonstratable experience of building positive relationships with partners, stakeholders or community organisations.
• Ability to organise and deliver outreach or engagement activities.
• Must respect sensitive information and understand the need for it to be handled with care and professionalism.

Practical Skills

• Strong communication skills that are clear, engaging, empathetic and nonjudgmental.
• Confidence presenting information to groups and facilitating discussions online.
• Good listening and questioning skills to understand people's needs.
• Ability to build productive relationships with professionals and partner organisations.
• Good organisational skills with the ability to plan and prioritise competing demands.
• Confident using IT tools (Word, Outlook, Excel, Office 365, Microsoft Teams) and open to learning systems such as Salesforce.
• Able to work independently while contributing positively to a collaborative team.

Personal Qualities

• Enthusiasm for promoting services and improving access to advice.
• Empathy and respect for the lived experiences of single parents.
• A confident and approachable communicator.
• A team player who is flexible and open to change.
• Self-motivated and committed to continuous learning.
• A strong belief in equality, inclusion and diversity.
• A non-judgmental approach to supporting families from all backgrounds.
• Alignment with OPFS values: Justice, Equity, Trust, Compassion and Collaboration.

Desirable

• Experience delivering welfare rights advice or undertaking benefit calculations.
• Experience delivering webinars, online learning or practitioner development sessions.
• Experience planning and delivering community outreach or promotional campaigns.
• Familiarity with Salesforce, SharePoint or multi-channel advice platforms.
• Knowledge of partnership working across the third sector and public services in Scotland.
• A clean driving licence and access to a car.

Terms & Conditions

Confirmation of Appointment: Confirmation of appointment is subject to satisfactory completion of a 3-month probationary period, two references and a PVG check.

Salary: £29600 - £34042 (pro rata)

Hours of Work: up to 35 hours per week (typically from 9.15am – 4.45pm)

Holidays: Annual leave entitlement is 25 days and 12 Public Holidays (pro rata).

Pension: You will be auto enrolled in our pension scheme with a 3% contribution from you and 7% contribution from OPFS.

Training, Support and Supervision: You will receive induction training and frequent support in the first three months. Thereafter you will receive regularly scheduled individual support and supervision and annual appraisals. Regular team meetings will be held, and staff have access to internal and external training.

Equal Opportunities and Family Friendly Employment: OPFS aims to be an equal opportunity and family friendly employer. OPFS has Investors in People GOLD status.

Application notes

For further information about the role and to apply, please visit https://opfs.org.uk/get-involved/work-with-us/ or email jobs@opfs.org.uk 

If you need to make an application in an alternative format on the basis of a disability or long-term health condition please email jobs@opfs.org.uk for guidance.